Food products such as instant coffee, not to exclude other powdered and granulated products such as milk, cocoa, sugar, etc., are merchandized in containers made of glass and plastic with screw-on lids. Heretofore, such foods have been dispensed from their containers by the spoonful, for example a teaspoonful at a time when the lid is removed. Also, lids with pouring spouts have been used in the past, but they have not measured the product being dispensed. Therefore, it is a general object of this invention to provide a Container Closure and Dispenser For Grannular Materials and the like, adapted to measure out the contents of the container in which the materials are merchanized and from which they are used.
Heretofore, dispensing lids for containers of powdered and granulated or ground materials, such as food products, have been special devices applied to the product container after the lid is removed and disposed of. Since such dispensing devices are space consuming when applied to the top of a container, their presence in merchanizing has not been acceptable. However, there is most always a shallow space left within the container between the lid and the contents, when the container is filled, and it is this space which is advantageously employed herein to accommodate a dispenser during the merchandizing process. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to temporarily place the dispenser within the container without reducing the contents normally stored therein.
Heretofore, containers of the type under consideration have either been provided with lids or dispenser devices, but not such as to be converted from one to the other, it being and object of this invention to provide a container closure-dispenser combination wherein the dispenser device is accommodated within the container during merchandizing and then reapplied to the exterior by the user. This combination of a closure and a dispenser involves accommodation of the dispenser within the closure and container during merchanizing or shipping etc., followed by the application of the dispenser to the closure at the exterior of the container for its dispensary use.
Instant coffee and other like food products are measured out two cubic centimeters at a time, or a teaspoonful at a time, as may be required. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a dispenser to measure out a certain quantity of product for each cycle of its operation. Accordingly for example, the dispenser herein disclosed is cooperatively combined with the closure of the container to measure out one teaspoonful per operation.